McDowell Aims To Defend Spanish Title
The European Tour stays in Spain as the 2011 Andalucía Masters takes residence at the glorious Club de Golf Valderrama on October 27th.
Defending champion Graeme McDowell will be hoping that memories of his last win on The European Tour can inspire him to a first victory of 2011 when he returns this week.
The Northern Irishman won the inaugural Andalucía Masters last year, capping an outstanding season, which saw him claim the Wales Open before winning the US Open Championship.
However, without a win this season, McDowell will be looking for a strong performance this week as he attempts to move up the rankings in The Race to Dubai.
Martin Kaymer, meanwhile, has loftier ambitions in The Race to Dubai as he attempts to narrow the gap on leader Luke Donald with success in Spain this week.
The German picked up his ninth career win on the tour at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January and hopes to double the tally in Spain.
He finished in 21st last year and will be confident of a better performance this time around.
Englishman Justin Rose makes his Andalucía Masters debut this week and returns to the venue where he has fantastic memories.
Rose won the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama in 2007 and with it, sealed his place at the top of the final rankings that year. With a liking to this course, expect Rose to be challenging on Sunday.
Last week’s winner Sergio Garcia ensured he moved up to 11th place in The Race to Dubai after his spectacular win at the Castelló Masters.
The Spaniard trounced the opposition last week to claim his fourth career win on Spanish soil.
Garcia may have struggled in recent years, but with a new found confidence and home support, he feels like his game is the best it has been in a long time and will be amongst the favourites this week.
Elsewhere, fellow countrymen Miguel Angel Jiménez, Pablo Larrazábal, Alvaro Quiros and 2012 Ryder Cup Captain José María Olazábal are also in the field. While Italian trio Matteo Manassero and Edoardo and Francesco Molinari will be amongst the 96 players that will tee off in the search of the Andalucía Masters title this weekend.
